Borehole reinforcement based on polymer materials induced by liquid-gas phase transition in simulating lunar coring

Abstract

Lunar core samples are the key materials for accurately assessing and developing lunar resources. However, the difficulty of maintaining borehole stability in the lunar coring process limits the depth of lunar coring. Here, a strategy of using a reinforcement fluid that undergoes a phase transition spontaneously in a vacuum environment to reinforce the borehole is proposed. Based on this strategy, a reinforcement liquid suitable for a wide temperature range and a high vacuum environment was developed. A feasibility study on reinforcing the borehole with the reinforcement liquid was carried out, and it is found that the cohesion of the simulated lunar soil can be increased from 2 to 800 kPa after using the reinforcement liquid. Further, a series of coring experiments are conducted using a self-developed high vacuum (vacuum degree of 5 Pa) and low-temperature (between −30 and 50 ℃) simulation platform. It is confirmed that the high-boiling-point reinforcement liquid pre-placed in the drill pipe can be released spontaneously during the drilling process and finally complete the reinforcement of the borehole. The reinforcement effect of the borehole is better when the solute concentration is between 0.15 and 0.25 g/mL.

Keywords

Lunar coring / Reinforcement fluid / Borehole reinforcement / Drill bit cooling

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U2013603, 51827901, and 52403383) and Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams (No. 2019ZT08G315). We thank the Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology (Sichuan University). We would like to thank the State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control of Chongqing University. We are grateful for the HIT-LS1 simulated lunar soil provided by Harbin Institute of Technology.

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